Wilt, 1962: The Night of 100 Points and the Dawn of a New Era

Mr. Pomerantz has written a cultural snapshot of America by focusing on a single NBA game in 1962. Back when the NBA was a very distant third to baseball and football on the national scene, he has extensively researched the "away" game between the Knicks and the Warriors in Hersey, Pa. There was no televison coverage and the only preservation of the 100 point performance of Wilt was a ham radio operator who started his recording late in the game. "Wilt,1962" is an examination of race in the days of unoffical quotas, of sportsmanship where the Knicks felt that the Warriors were running up the score, and of team versus individual stardom. By the fourth quarter, the two teams were engaged in intense physical combat and intentionally fouling each other: the Knicks in an attempt to kept Wilt from scoring (he was a horrible foul shooter who had the night of his life by going 28 for 32 from the line) and by the Warriors who were trying to help Wilt when the Knicks started to play "stall ball." Wilt made his 100th point in the final minute of play as the Warriors won, 169-147. This is not a full biography of Wilt but a story of an era captured within a single game. "Wilt, 1962" is similiar in tone to Frank Fitzpatrick's study of the 1965 NCAA title game between the all-black team from Texas El Paso and the all-white squad from Kentucky in "And The Walls Came Tumbling Down" (2000). It is readable as a history lesson disguised as a sports story.

I admit I had reservations about ordering "Wilt, 1962." I enjoyed and Pomerantz's other books--"Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn" and "Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds"--but I had no interest in professional basketball. None. But my admiration of Pomerantz's other works overcame my initial hesitations and I bought it. I'm glad I did because "Wilt, 1962" is about much more than a historic night in sports. It brings to life a time period in recent American history that we wouldn't recognize today. I finished it in a day! Two things made "Wilt, 1962 compelling--Pomerantz's skill as a researcher and his talent as a writer. In his previous books Pomerantz mastered the details of everything from the residential patterns of segregated Atlanta to the "peen-ing" of the blades of airplane propeller and he brings the same "total immerson" style to "Wilt, 1962" with startling results. He learned how some NBA players defended the Big Dipper by receiving an elbow in the back. Pomerantz, however, is more than a master details--he is also a talented writer. Pomerantz weaves his telling details in a way that resurrects an NBA that needed exhibition games by NFL players to draw a couple thousand fans, to describe the Harlem nightclub scene that was in its twilight and, most importantly, to bring Wilt, a man who'e life and memory are now shadows and stereotypes, to life.

What a lost treasure. I just finished reading Wilt, 1962. What great insight into a lost era of the NBA. Growing up, Wilt was one of my favoite players. I thought I knew everything about him and his history. Boy! Was I wrong. Wilt. 1962 gives great insight into not only " The 1st big fella", but also what the NBA was like back in the early days. The writer, Gary Pomerantz, does a great job of putting you right there in those old damp, dusty arenas, on the bus trips and the nightlife that surrounded the Big Dipper in his hey day. It was a fast read and highly recommended reading for any sports or history fan. ls. chicago

I loved this book! Initially I thought -- no way would I read a book on Wilt and basketball history. Then, I stumbled across a two page preview in Parade Magazine and thought-this guy can write! Pomerantz' interesting storytelling immediately captivated me. The most compelling for me, a non basketball afficianiado, is how he took me right into the heart of the historical, cultural and race sensibilities through sports in the fifties and 60's and through this truly unparalleled player, Wilt. Add to this, now I have some sports legend history at my fingertips for conversations.

Wilt Chamberlain was a true athletic phenomenon, as special to his sport as Babe Ruth had been to his 40 years earlier, and author Gary Pomerantz, who started his professional career as a sportswriter, does an excellent job of showing why Chamberlain was so important to the NBA. But Pomerantz does much more than that. He takes the reader on a tour of Chamberlain's multi-layered life, showing how he rose above, literally and figuratively, the prejudice of the time. When he played at Kansas, restaurants were racially segregated - but not for Wilt. He dated many women, and wasn't particular whether they were black, tan or white. The NBA had informal quotas but with Chamberlain's dominance, the quotas became irrelevant and fell away. Pomerantz uses the framework of the game itself, an otherwise obscure event between the Philadelphia Warriors in Hershey, Pa. that wasn't even covered by the New York press, to weave in his social messages. One of the most evocative passages describes Wilt striding through the Harlem nightclub he had a small part of, "Big Wilt's Small Paradise," among the black icons of the time and the white patrons, comfortable in both worlds but somehow apart from both as well. The book captures beautifully an era when life and basketball were so much different than they are today, and I recommend it highly. Glenn Dickey (...)